Brockport presents '07-'08 budget

Brockport presents '07-'08 budget

A budget for 2007-08 that comes without a tax increase was presented to the audience of eight Village of Brockport residents March 19. According to proposed figures, taxpayers in the village will see a tax bill with a rate of $9.83 per $1,000 of assessed value - the same as the current year.

The village was able to hold the line on the tax rate by cutting expenses and moving money from the fund balance. The estimated revenues for 2007-08 are $2,922,998; fund balance used will be $122,596. In the past, Village Manager Ian Coyle said, the village has utilized between $25,000 and $60,000 of fund balance money for the budget. "Because we are expecting a reduction in expenses, we used a bit more fund balance this year," he said.

Projected revenues are $3,045,594, expenses were figured at $4,796,680 with the amount to be raised by taxes of $1,751,086.

As in past years, the police department is funded with about 38 percent of the budget with employee benefits from other village employees coming in at 17 percent of total expenses, followed by transportation at 13 percent.

Expense cutting measures included the village's participation in the Monroe County Workers Compensation program in which it realized a $100,000 reduction. "We're looking at possibly getting a refund from the contribution we made to the fund," Coyle said. A $20,000 savings was found in contractual services and an additional $40,000 in general liability insurance savings.

The village plans capital improvements of road resurfacing projects, a sanitary sewer project on Clinton Street - pending a community development block grant; West Avenue sidewalk extension and replacement of water mains on College Street.

The tentative water budget figures were $996,700 in appropriations and $1,007,500 in revenues. The water rate remains stable at $3.63 per 1,000 gallons.

"This is the first time in a long long time that we were able to come back to the residents with no increase in the tax rate," Mayor Mort Wexler said. "I thank the department heads for working with us to achieve that goal."

Resident John Bush, who had asked repeatedly throughout the year for village officials to begin work on the budget, said he would like to see village officials look at the benefit packages offered to employees. "How long can we sustain paying 100 percent of benefits for employees? The village needs to get a little tougher on these contracts," he said. "I like that you are holding the line but I'd like to see it come down. We pay double the taxes that they pay in Clarkson and Sweden and what do we get extra for it?"

Linda Borrayeo questioned the village officials' process on working on the budget. "How often did you meet in person? How much time did you spend on the budget? I remember in the past when there would be meetings here when we could come in and listen to what was going on."

Trustee Carrie Maziarz said during her comments that the budget process was more streamlined this year with the use of e-mail and phone calls.

Questions were raised on the amount of pay increase that was proposed for Coyle under the budget - a 15 percent increase which would bring his salary from approximately $53,000 to $62,000. "If we compare apples to apples what Mr. Coyle does for the village and his knowledge and ability and if we want to make certain we keep him we need to reward him financially," Wexler said, adding that he is accustomed to employees making the same percentage of raises across the board.

"What he makes is peanuts compared to what he does," Bush said.

At the close of the public hearing, resident Hal Legg said, "To your credit, you held the line on taxes and I am pleased that you deliver the services we want at a price we can afford."

The village will hold a workshop on the budget on March 26 and among other things will discuss some other cost cutting measures that Trustee David Wagenhauser brought forth. The village has until May 1 to approve the budget.